98 Prof. Marshall Ward, Notes on some of the Rarer 



So far as I am able to judge, this species appears to bear 

 a similar relation to Boletus to that which Lepiota rachodes bears 

 to L. procera : that is to say the pileus becomes so shaggy that it 

 breaks up into scale-like groups of hairs. I have seen a specimen 

 of the common mushroom similarly strobilaceous, and scaly ex- 

 amples of Boletus scaber suggest how simple the change might be. 

 Winter 1 keeps it in the genus Boletus, and most authors seem to 

 hesitate about placing it separately, though they still do so. 

 Massee, however 2 , points out that the spores are warted. 



Trametes Pini, Fr. 



This destructive tree-killing parasite was seen at Aviemore 

 on several of the Scotch pines, and specimens were collected. 

 Hartig 3 worked out the peculiarities of its action on the wood, the 

 tracheids of which are isolated by the solution of the middle 

 lamella, and their walls delignified by enzymes secreted by the 

 hyphse, and are transformed into soft cellulose and finally dissolved: 

 since this occurs in patches and streaks, the injured wood exhibits 

 very characteristic marks, from which the presence of the fungus 

 can be inferred even in the absence of fructifications. Much 

 damage accrues from the ravages of this parasite in some parts of 

 Germany, but it appears to be little known with us. 



Passing to the Agaricini, Amanitopsis vaginata, Roze., may be 

 mentioned, since, though common, it is now made the type of a 

 new genus — an Amanita without the ring : I gathered the speci- 

 men at Aviemore. 



Nyctalis asterophora, Fr. 



This was obtained, during an excursion in Norfolk with 

 Dr Plowright, growing on Russida nigricans, and exhibits the 

 quaint hymenophores powdered with the stellate spores, regarding 

 which so much controversy was maintained. They are now known 

 to be chlamydospores 4 ' which are formed in addition to ordinary 

 oidia and basidiospores in this remarkable fungus. 



Oalera tenera, Schaeff. 



This is not an uncommon fungus in grassy spots, but our 

 modern English floras do not record it as a coprophilous form. It 

 sprang up on horse-dung in the laboratory, and on cultivation in 

 gelatine media I obtained the characteristically curved series of 

 oidia described by Brefeld 5 , confirming the accuracy of his 

 figures for this species in all respects. 



1 Kryptogamen Flora, vol. i. p. 463. 



2 Brit. Fungus Flora, vol. i. p. 257. 



3 Zersetzungserscheinungen des Holzes. 



4 See Bref., Untersuchungen, H. viii. PI. v. 



5 Brefeld, I.e. p. 51. 



